DREAMS of having entirely driverless cars are slightly further away than thought after Google revealed humans have had to take over its self-driving cars to avoid crashes.
 |
| Google's self-driving cars have not been without their problems |
giant said its cars have safely driven more than a million miles during tests but there have been 272 times over the 14-months before December test cars in California had to be taken over by people due to "anomalies".
During the test period, the cars travelled more than 420,000 miles across the American state.
Thanks to all this testing, we can develop measurable confidence in our abilities in various environments
 |
| Google has been testing its car for more than a year |
Google then played out the situations on a simulator to find out whether the car would have hit something if a person had not taken control.
Out of the 69 "driver-initiated disengagements", the simulations determined 13 would have resulted in crashes if the car had been steering.
 |
| Self Driving Car Project CEO John Krafcik |
Eight of the near-misses took place in the 2014 section of the test when 53,000 miles were travelled in California, while only five happened during 2015 when 370,000 miles were travelled.
Chris Urmson, head of the internet giant's self-driving car team, said: "This trend looks good."
But he warned the number of incidents when humans have to step in could rise as Google tests the cars in trickier environments such as dangerous weather or traffic.
"Thanks to all this testing, we can develop measurable confidence in our abilities in various environments.
"This stands in contrast to the hazy variability we accept in experienced human drivers? - ?never mind the 16-year-olds we send onto the streets to learn amidst the rest of us."
Mr Urmson remained confident Google was coming closer to getting the self-driving cars ready for sale.
 |
| Google are hoping the cars will eventually be safer than humans driving |
Post a Comment Blogger Facebook Disqus